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Kojirō Sasaki
Sasaki Kojiro (佐々木 小次郎) is one of the main protagonist of Vagabond. The legendary archrival of Miyamoto Musashi. Appearance He is described by others as a young man with an innocent child like face. He is slightly taller than Musashi. Personality His personality is very playful, almost child-like. He is also very sexually active, always bringing different women. He enjoys duelling against opponents because this would be his way of communicating with people. History Kojiro was the son of Sasaki Sukeyasu who was a former disciple of Kanemaki Jisai. He sent his son and wife to Jisai in 1583 CE. After defeating Koun, he was able to reunite with Ittosai. However Kojiro was angry at Ittosai for abandoning him and charge towards him with rage. Ittosai notice Kojiro's bloodlust has disappeared and was intially disappointed at Kojiro's missed cut but Kojiro used his technique Tsubame-Gaeshi ''to cut upwards and slashed half of his right palm. Ittosai instantly switched to his left hand to knock Kojiro out with his sword, Ittosai impressed with Kojiro rated him 1000 points for injuring him. It is assumed that Kojiro, Gennosuke and Ittosai went seperate ways. Kojiro slept with a prositute who was Kohei favourite woman, Kohei cut the prositute face for her betrayal and Kohei went after Kojiro. Kojiro grabbed his sword and used ''Tsubame-Gaeshi ''to cut Kohei face. From here, Kojiro became famous swordsman challenging others. Plot Kojiro was spotted in Kyoto when he read the challenge post that Denshirou put up against Musashi. Kojiro laughed as he notice Musashi's hand ink print on the challenge note. Kojiro was staying at the same place as Musashi. Kojiro saw Musashi's snowman and was instantly amused by it. Kojiro took off the stick of the snowman and tries to cut down the snowman. Here Musashi reunites with Kojiro, although Musashi didn't recognise him but felt he seen him before and Kojiro seems to remember him. Musashi notice Kojiro's movement when he waves the stick around. They had a brief fight with the sticks and each strike was lethal. Kojiro wanted to try use real sword but Musashi stands there, Kojiro notice this and withdraw his blade until they realize that it became dark. After Musashi left, Kojiro constantly thinks about Musashi. He kept asking where Musashi is or whats he's doing. Attributes and Abilities Ittousai has also commented the possibility that Kojirou's eyes have become better developed to compensate for his lack of hearing. '''Swordsmanship: Ganryu - Tsubame-Gaeshi (燕返し)' Kojiro was renowned for his Tsubame-Gaeshi, or “Swallow Cut” technique, inspired by the movement of a swallow in flight. He used this technique while fighting against Ittosai. Equipment Monohoshizao (The drying Pole) is a nodachi, or a long katana. It is a memento of his deceased father, Kojiro as a child was very fond of it. Kanemaki Jisai threw the sword in the ocean after Kojiro left him. Trivia *Kojiro went by the fighting name of Ganryū. *It is questionable if Kojiro even existed, some of the historic dates don't match and Musashi's The Book of Five Rings doesn't even mention him. *Kojiro is believed to have studied the Chujo-ryu style of swordsmanship under the instruction of either Toda Seigen or Kanemaki Jisai *Unlike in Vagabond, the source book -- Yoshikawa's Musashi -- has a very different Kojiro. Vagabond's Kojiro is showned to be a deafmute who is childlike and innocent and wishes to fight truly dedicated swordsmen. However, Yoshikawa's Kojiro is not only able to hear/talk perfectly well, but is shown to be sadistic and bloodthirsty. He takes pleasure in watching people die, he kidnaps girls he is in love with to tie up and rape, and Mushashi describes him as deceitful and a schemer. Inaccuracies *In an interesting difference from Yoshikawa's Musashi, Kojiro is deaf and mute, though still literate.